Monday, September 13, 2010

No Cause for Alarm

For example, last weekend I was in Manila, eating at a nice Italian restaurant, (nice, as in white table cloths, and too many pieces of silverware kind of nice,) when I noticed an ant in my salad.

Normally, this would be cause for alarm. Bugs crawling around in your food? Gross right.

However, that wasn't really my thought process...

***

Me: Is that an ant? Yep. That is an ant. He's red. I don't think I've seen red ants in the Philippines. He's really red. Like fire ant red. Eww... I don't miss fire ants at all. I wonder what kind of ant this is. I've definitely only seen black ants in the Philippines. Is he alive? Hmmm... (poke with fork.) Yep. He's alive. Probably not for long though... I wonder how long ants can survive in a pool of olive oil? Not long... I think he's dying.

Waitress: Oh! There is an ant in your food!!

Me: Huh? Oh, yeah.

I didn't even realize she had come up behind me and was staring at me in horror as I was playing with the ant drowning in salad dressing.

At this point she whisked the salad away to the kitchen, where I'm sure they just picked the ant out and gave it back to her. Which is exactly what I would have done had she not taken it away.

It was one ant. I deal with many more than that everyday.

I share a front yard, a kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom with ants... it really wouldn't make a difference if I also shared a plate.

It's taken me 17 months, but I've finally given up on the war against ants.

Chicago

I began writing The Undomesticated Housewife in April of 2009 when my husband Lee and I moved to the Philippines. It's been a year since we moved back home, and we are starting a new chapter of our lives in Chicago. I decided to get back to blogging and chronicle our adventures in the Windy City. Stay Tuned!